President of FSU Eric J. Barron gave his State of the Univeristy Address on Oct. 24, 2012 at the Augustus B. Turnbull Florida State Conference Center. / Francesca Urcuyo/FSView

Written by

Olivia Wilson

Staff Writer

On Wednesday, Oct. 24, the general faculty of FSU met at the Augustus B. Turnbull Conference Center to distribute their annual Torch awards and hear President Eric Barron’s State of the University address.

The Torch Awards were established in 1996 as a means for faculty to honor friends of Florida State University who have contributed significantly to FSU’s ability to fulfill its academic mission.

Nominations for the awards were accepted from the entire FSU community, reviewed by the Awards Committee and ultimately confirmed by the Faculty Senate Steering Committee.

Faculty Senate President Sandra Lewis presented the three separate awards for each of FSU’s three torches: vires, artes and mores.

This year’s vires award for moral, physical and intellectual strength was given to Fred Leysieffer and Marilyn Young.

Leysieffer was part of the FSU statistics faculty. Active in the faculty senate, he was president of the faculty senate from 1992 until 1994 and thereafter continued to work on behalf of the faculty through a progression of academic administrative positions. From 1994 to 1997 he served as associate and then acting dean for the College of Arts and Sciences.

“In each of these positions Fred Leysieffer was known as an even-handed, fair administrator who was able to successfully mediate situations,” said Lewis.

Marilyn Young received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and arrived at FSU in 1972, spending 13 years as the debate coach and director of forensics before stepping down from each position in 1985.

She has published five books, is the author of numerous scholarly essays and continues to be an active scholar during retirement by regularly attending international academic conferences.

She served as chair for the FSU department of communication and also as a two-term president for the faculty senate.

The artes award for appreciation of aesthetics and the beauty of intellectual pursuits was presented to Lynda Keever.

Keever, a fifth-generation Floridian, graduated from Manatee Community College in 1967 with her A.A. before attending FSU to complete her bachelor’s degree. She worked for Tampa’s Trend magazine in sales and ultimately as its publisher—the only woman to serve in that position in the magazine’s 54-year history.

She is currently working alongside her husband at his commercial construction business.

The mores award for respect for customs, character and tradition was given to Stella Cottrell.

Cottrell graduated from FSU and taught in Texas and Florida for 12 years. She was employed for 25 years by the Walt Disney Company’s entertainment division as a rehearsal accompanist, a pianist for Magic Days and for the candlelight Christmas activities.

She is a member for the College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Council.After Lewis completed giving the awards out, President Barron gave his State of the University address.

Barron, who graduated from FSU with an undergraduate degree in geology, began his speech with a metaphor about the university’s colors.

“Garnet forms under high pressures and temperatures,” said Barron. “I tell people [...] about continents colliding and the stresses and pressures seen with continents colliding, and the formation of mountain bells, that’s the environment that a garnet forms in. And all that heat, all that pressure, all that stress, and the result is a gemstone.

In a lot of ways, I think that description of a garnet epitomizes this University in so many different ways.”

He went on to explain all of the University’s recent accomplishments in the face of economic hardship.

FSU’s quality ranking among all of the Universities in the country is No. 97 and No. 42 among all public institutions.

“What is amazing are our financial resources compared to the other 270 universities that are ranked, slipped from 204th to 212th,” said Barron. “We slipped eight places in financial resources. We gained four places in academic quality. A remarkable achievement, a description of your University that suggests that we are extraordinarily efficient for how we use our resources.”

The Director’s Cup is a measure of the ranking of the top 20 athletic teams at each university. FSU only has 20 teams and is still ranked No. 5.

The teams ranked at No. 6 and No. 4 have budgets that approximately double FSU’s 78 million dollar budget.

“I will tell you again, this University, and I do not care what part you are talking about, we know how to turn a dollar into excellence,” said Barron.